Friday, October 7, 2011

1st draft. Will need a lot of work

In her blog post, “Moneyball, Wallstreet and Change,” Mallory McDuff effectively argues that we must tax the top 1% to help with the current financial troubles. She alludes to the new Brad Pitt movie, which has gotten a lot of hype lately, in her title as a hook. She mixes formal and informal diction with direct quotes from the movie, and her commentary. She also encourages emotions of hope by speaking of change, new ways of thinking, and relating Americans as playing together as part of the same team. Overall, her rhetoric compels the audience to go and carry out the changes that are wanted on Wall Street. She appeals to the conservative that wants change in how we resolve this crisis by quoting theologian Richard Rohr and speaking of change. She also appeals to the progressive by quoting Obama several times and suggesting his way of solving the crisis by taxing the rich. The first quote that she uses from the movie says, ‘“There are rich teams, and there are poor teams; then there is 50 feet of crap. And then there's us,” says general manager Beane, describing the gap between winning major league teams and the Oakland A's.’ It reminds those of us that have seen the movie of one of the comical scenes in the movie, bringing Brad Pitt’s effectual way of expressing things abrasively to the point. The audience feels a sense of urgency of our economic situation and makes them more open to her next point and quotes from the movie that suggests that we must be open to change, "We've got to think differently." Mallory begins the blog post talking about how President Obama has asked that the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, appealing to the middle class that feels overtaxed and underrepresented in congress and the legislation that they pass. She then goes on to make the connection between the movie and our crisis by stating, “The game of baseball, as depicted in "Moneyball" is about statistics; our current national pastime of political wrangling about taxation is about math, as Obama reminded us from the Rose Garden” This makes a appeal to logic and fiscal responsibility which is what the Tea Party movement is largely in favor of. After the comparison of statistics in baseball to taxation and math (thus bringing first logic into the argument) she then has a emotion filled oration, “But the movie -- and our fate as a country -- is also about openness to change, innovative problem-solving, and a moral ground that will benefit the team, rather than showcase individual players.” First off is “openness to change.” Anyone that is dissatisfied with any part of our economic situation, which is almost everybody, is open to change. Then she speaks of “innovative-problem-solving.” With one of the best innovative-problem-solvers of our day, Steve Jobs having just passed away we begin to think of all the good that has come with not accepting the norm and not accepting an irresolvable problem. “Innovative-problem-solving” also brings to the mind the semi-recent success of companies like google and facebook who did not accept the Yahoo’s and MySpace’s of the day. Innovative problem solving is something that every hiring business would like to see on a resume. When trying to inspire emotions that want change such as dissatisfaction with the economic situation she compares overly paid superstar baseball players to those on Wall street that are making tons of money while there is an 18% unemployment rate among youth, twice the nation average. Trying to inspire those of us that haven’t exactly hit many homeruns in the economy to bring about a change she states, “with help from Yale economics graduate Peter Brand, played by Jonah Hill, the general manager decides to recruit players who get on base most often, rather than star players who can throw the farthest or hit the most home runs.” For those of us that sat and watched the government bail out the “star players” in the US economy such as Fannie May, Freddie Mac, and GM it makes us think of how the government should be more thoughtful of those of us that do not spend irresponsibly. Overall her diction was impressive. Her blogpost shows that she has a PhD, thus giving her more credibility. She does inspire change and give us a sense of informality mixed with formality with her diction. She finishes the post with ‘As Babe Ruth once said, "The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime." With the bases loaded and the stakes high, it's now our turn to play ball.’

About Me

I'm from a small town of 300 people in northern Alabama. After two semesters at BYU I served an LDS mission to Uruguay for two years. It was the most impactful years of my life. I returned to Utah in Feb 2009 and have worked throughout the country with Pinnacle Security. I have applied to the Jerusalem Center for Winter semester 2012 and will hear back within two weeks about if I am accepted. I am a Commerial Management Major at BYU and will graduate in 2013.